


Home

by lockedlocke



Category: Captain America (Comics), Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Established Relationship, Fix-It, Happy Ending, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-04-30
Packaged: 2020-02-10 11:50:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18659863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lockedlocke/pseuds/lockedlocke
Summary: Something happens.Steve isn’t entirely sure what happens, but something happens. There’s a change in the air, affecting every little thing. Steve feels it deep in his chest as Bruce falls down after snapping his fingers.





	Home

**Author's Note:**

> In which we're going to ignore everything that happens after Bruce snaps his fingers and everything that follows because I refuse to accept the Endgame ending as canon. No time traveling Thanos!
> 
> As always, many thanks to Birdjay for helping me edit this fic!

Something happens.

Steve isn’t entirely sure what happens, but _something_ happens. There’s a change in the air, affecting every little thing. Steve feels it deep in his chest as Bruce falls down after snapping his fingers.

Something happens.

Steve looks around, nervous, as Thor and Tony go over to help Bruce -- his arm is black and charred, burnt from the sheer power that is the Infinity Stones, which are still shining in the glove like nothing ever happened to them. Like they aren’t capable of massive destruction. They’re beautiful, really.

His heart hammers away in his chest, wanting to step in and help Bruce like the others, but he’s afraid of crowding him. Steve already feels like he can’t breathe, he doesn’t want to begin to imagine what it feels like for Bruce.

Somewhere in the corner of his eyes he sees Scott walk off, and Clint seems to take a step backwards. Only seconds later, there’s a chime that fills the room. He glances to his left where the sound seems to comes from and sees Clint. His eyes are wide and he’s pale, like he’s seeing a ghost.

Clint looks at him, stunned, as if he can’t quite believe what he’s hearing. Then he looks behind him. On one of the desks lies his phone, vibrating and ringing like crazy. For a second Clint looks too scared to go over and look, as if he’ll just be disappointed by who is actually calling him.

It’s with slow and heavy steps that he walks over to the desk and looks down to the screen. Steve watches him, forgetting Bruce on the floor entirely, saying something about how he _tried to bring her back, too_. He doesn’t even hear it. It’s far far away from him, sounding almost as if it’s underwater. The chime of Clint’s phone is sharp and real.

He sees how Clint makes a relieved sound, a little gasp for air as he picks up his phone. He’s smiling a little swipes his thumb over the screen and puts it to his ear.  “Laura?”

Steve’s heart stops in his chest. Every muscle in his body tense as he waits for more reaction. One little sign on Clint that whatever they did worked.

That they’re all back.

“Laura?” Clint repeats. Steve sees how Clint, who’s otherwise so composed, who’s otherwise hiding behind a smartass comment or a joke, suddenly breaks apart. Suddenly, he sees a whole different Clint in front of him. He sees the man that married his wife, who now is hearing her voice and who can’t quite believe it truly is her. Laura is back. That means…

In the inside pocket of his suit jacket, another chime sounds. Steve feels it vibrating against his chest. He doesn’t react at first, doesn’t quite understand that it’s _his_ phone ringing. When Steve realises, he acts all at once. He tears his jacket open, with little regard to the zippers that might break, and shoves his hand in to dig out his phone.

Steve lets out a gasp not quite unlike the one that Clint made, when he sees his phone. The picture of Bucky bottle feeding one of the goat kids in his lap, sitting amongst high grass is on his screen. Bucky has a focused look on his face that is hidden partially by the text, ‘Doll.’ At the bottom of the screen, the _swipe to answer_ block is blinking slowly.

Steve swipes it and puts the phone against his ear. Unlike Clint, he can’t say a word, however, he just waits. Quietly and breathlessly. He’s struck by the terrible thought that this is all just a dream. None of this is real. He’s going to wake up and he’s going to wake up alone in a single bed, because he couldn’t stomach staying in a double anymore.

_“Steve?”_

That’s him. Steve heart starts beating again and instantly skips a beat. His stomach makes a swirl, and the floor underneath him feels like quicksand. That’s him, that’s Bucky’s voice. He’s not imagining it. That’s Bucky, the same warm gruffness to the voice, he sounds so incredibly lost and confused but that’s Bucky and he’s back.

_“Steve, you there? Where are you? What happened?”_

Steve can’t stop the wave of emotions that wash over him. In fact, he doesn’t even try. The weight of despair lifts itself from his shoulders and he feels happiness, relief, and pure joy at hearing Bucky’s voice again. He starts to sob, and sinks through his knees, holding the phone close to his ear, his other arm around his middle as he leans forward and puts his forehead to the floor. Behind him he hears how Clint is in a similar state. There’s another phone ringing somewhere, but Steve doesn’t bother to check who it is who gets another lucky phone call.

 _“Steve, what’s wrong, what’s happening, where are you? What happened? Are you okay?”_  Bucky’s voice echoes through his ear. Despite everything, Bucky still puts Steve before himself. Like he’s always done. Not anymore, that ends today, Steve decides. He’s stopping, he promised himself he would give it all up if they succeeded in bringing them all back. They did, he’s going to go back to Bucky and Bucky is never going to have to do that again.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m okay,” Steve responds and tries to sit up. He’s still crying, tears are running down his already soaked cheeks and he still can’t believe it. He’s got Bucky talking to him, Bucky is back. Bucky is back and it’s all that he can think about at that particular moment. He’s got him back. Five years after being alone, and now he’s not alone anymore. Bucky’s back. “I’m fine, I’m okay. Where are you, are you okay? Please tell me you’re okay,”

 _“I’m okay,”_ Bucky says and Steve lets out a shudder of a breath, shifting so he can lean against a desk with his back and wipes at his cheeks, they wet his gloves. _“I’m in the woods, but I’m fine. What happened?”_

Steve swallows down a big ball of iron in his throat. It hurts and he nearly begins to cry again at the memory. Or maybe he still is crying, Steve isn’t entirely sure. “You disappeared…”

 

\--

 

Steve grabs the first jet that he can find. The quinjet is fast, but even that can’t bring him to Wakanda in five minutes. The flight from The Avengers Headquarters to Wakanda on a quinjet takes about ten hours. It’s roughly five hours faster than if he took a commercial flight.

It’s the longest ten hours of Steve’s life.

When he finally lands the Quinjet in the open field not far away from his… no, _their_ home, it’s their home again, it’s a little bit past seven in the morning. It’s been about eleven hours since Bruce snapped the Stark Gauntlet.

Steve grabs his bag, and slams the button that’ll lower the ramp. With three large steps he makes it down into the tall, overgrown grass. He looks around, a bit breathless and then starts to walk rapidly towards the house. A bit further away he sees the hut where Bucky’s goats live. There’s three of them wandering around now. Steve halts in his step for one second, noticing the figure that they’re following around.

They’re still about a hundred yards apart, but Steve would recognize that figure anywhere. That is his Bucky, black shimmering on his left side as he drags straw behind him. That’s Bucky and he’s back, he’s real.

Steve drops his bag on the ground, and starts to run. He doesn’t think about shouting. He doesn’t have to. At some point, Bucky turns and straightens up. Bucky sees Steve, and he drops the straw. He starts to run towards him.

They meet up with one another only a handful of seconds later. Slamming into one another with the speed from their walk. They swing around from the sheer force of it, barely managing to hold on to one another. Steve pulls him in and wraps his arms around Bucky, hugging him tight and buries his face in the curve of his neck, smelling him. He smells like earth and flowers. He smells like he always has.

Steve hugs his husband close, and promises himself to never let go.


End file.
